SAN DIEGO, CA (JULY 8, 2013) – John E. Wennberg, MD, MPH, founder of the Dartmouth Atlas, received the 2013 Esri Making a Difference Award today at the plenary session of Esri’s annual International User’s Conference in San Diego.

For more than 20 years, the
Dartmouth Atlas has documented glaring variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. The project uses Medicare data to provide comprehensive information and analysis about national, regional and local markets, as well as individual hospitals and their affiliated physicians.

These reports and the research upon which they are based have helped policymakers, the media, health care analysts and others improve their understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness of our health care system. This valuable data forms the foundation for many of the ongoing efforts to improve health and health systems across America.

Dr. Wennberg’s work has transformed the way the United States understands health care,” said Jack Dangermond, President, Esri. “His analyses and ideas are the foundation for national health care reform across the world, and The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care is one of the most significant contributions to understanding the geographic variability of health care expenditures, quality and outcomes. Dr. Wennberg is truly a man of great courage and steadfast determination, and I could not agree more that in health care, geography is destiny!”

The Esri Making a Difference award honors people or organizations that have used GIS to bring about meaningful change in the world. Recipients use GIS as a framework to understand problems and successfully meet important challenges. They are leaders that value collaboration and have a sense of shared responsibility for society or the environment.

My colleagues and I are grateful for this recognition,” said Dr. Wennberg. “Esri GIS tools are critical in our studies of the geography of medical care, helping us to sketch the landscape of health care delivery in the U.S. and address such questions as why care is so different in Minneapolis than it is in Miami.”

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at
esri.com/news.